n Franklin saw that it went to
where it was addressed.

Franklin frequently went over to England in those days, partly on
business and partly to shock the king. He liked to go to the castle with
his breeches tucked in his boots, figuratively speaking, and attract a
great deal of attention.

It looked odd to the English, of course, to see him come into the royal
presence, and, leaning his wet umbrella up against the throne, ask the
king, "How's trade?"

Franklin never put on any frills, but he was not afraid of a crowned
head. He used to say, frequently, that a king to him was no more than a
seven-spot.

He did his best to prevent the Revolutionary War, but he couldn't do it.
Patrick Henry had said that the war was inevitable, and had given it
permission to come, and it came.

He also went to Paris, and got acquainted with a few crowned heads
there. They thought a good deal of him in Paris, and offered him a
corner lot if he would build there and start a paper. They also promised
him the county printing; but he said, No, he would have to go back to
America or his wife might get uneasy about him. Franklin wrote "Poor
Richard's Almanac" in 1732 to 1757, and it was republished in England.

Franklin little thought, when he went to the throne-room in his leather
riding-clothes and hung his hat on the throne, that he was inaugurating
a custom of wearing groom clothes which would in these days be so
popular among the English.

Dr. Franklin entered Philadelphia eating a loaf of bread and carrying a
loaf under each arm, passing beneath the window of the girl to whom he
afterwards gave his hand in marriage.

[Illustration: FRANKLIN ENTERING PHILADELPHIA.]

Nearly everybody in America, except Dr. Mary Walker, was once a poor
boy.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE CRITICAL PERIOD.

Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold on the 10th of May led two small
companies to Ticonderoga, a strong fortress tremendously fortified, and
with its name also across the front door. Ethan Allen, a brave Vermonter
born in Connecticut, entered the sally-port, and was shot at by a guard
whose musket failed to report. Allen entered and demanded the surrender
of the fortress.

"By whose authority?" asked the commandant.

"By the authority of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress,"
said Allen, brandishing his naked sword at a great rate.

"Very well," said the officer: "if you put it on those grounds, all
right, if you will excuse the appear